- Vigan, Ilocus Sur – Jane Pahitong, 40, a Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program mother-beneficiary, is a model of determination, hard work, hope, and positivity in her community.
She singlehandedly takes care of her daughter Angel, 6, as her husband, Pablo Jr, works miles away in Cainta, Rizal, and is seldom home.
It would seem easy to most, but for a mother who is wheelchair bound, taking care of the household and a young daughter has its moments of difficulty.
She shared that with the meager salary of Pablo as a factory worker, their expenses can be hard to manage.
Hence, it was a great blessing that their family was identified as a beneficiary of Pantawid Pamilya.
Pantawid Pamilya provides cash grants of as much as P1,400 to households with three qualified children to meet their education and health needs as long as they comply to program conditionalities such as sending their children to school and health centers for checkup, and attending family development sessions.
Two years into the program, Jane could not supress her gratitude for this assistance from the national government.
She said, “Dakkel ti naitulong kanyami ti programa nangruna iti panagbasa ti ubingko. Malaksid kadaytoy kuarta nga aw-awaten mi, adu met ti masursurok pay iti binulan nga FDS miting kas iti pinagdadalus, panag-garden (The program is a big help to my family, especially in supporting my daughter’s schooling. Aside from the cash grant, I also learned a lot from the monthly Family Development Sessions (FDS) such as cleanliness and backyard gardening).”
Despite her physical difficulties, she tirelessly tries to find ways to augment Pablo’s income who sacrifices not seeing his family often as he would rather send his transport fares to them.
Even in a wheelchair, Jane manages her own vegetable garden, the produce of which she either sells for a small profit or cooks for their meal.
Livelihood for Pantawid Pamilya families
Since it started, Pantawid Pamilya has since become more than just a poverty alleviation program.
It has proven to be a catalyst for societal change.
Jane received a good news from the Vigan Local Government Unit (LGU) providing her family with a sustainable livelihood under the “Pagsapulan: Raniag iti Masakbayan (Work for a Bright Future) Project”.
The livelihood project is the LGU’s support to sustain the efforts of Pantawid Pamilya in improving the lives of beneficiaries.
Mayor Eva Marie Medina said that this project aims to produce better families and communities for the next generation.
The LGU plans to provide livelihood to all Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries in the city targeting 20 families per month.
“We see the value of the Pantawid Pamilya in alleviating the plight of the poor, that is why we decided to anchor our zero-poverty thrust on it,” Mayor Medina said.
And what makes Pagsapulan unique is that the livelihood project is based on the skills, capacity, and interest of the beneficiary and not limited to a specific kind of assistance.
Councilor Juan Carlo M. Singson added that they assess the skills of the beneficiaries before they decide to provide the livelihood assistance.
He cited that there were families provided with a sari-sari store showcase, one family was given five goats to start a small livestock business, another family was provided two cows (male and female), and and still another was given a bigasan (rice) showcase.
Jane got a sewing machine for her dressshop business.
“Makakapagsimula na din akong makatulong sa aming kita. Marunong talaga akong manahi at ngayon may sarili na akong makina, pwede na akong tumanggap ng patahi (I can now help my family earn as I have my own sewing machine. I will be able to accept sewing jobs),” Jane happily shared.
Councilor Singson mentioned that the livelihood project is their support to the poverty alleviation initiatives of the national government.
“Na-realize namin na mabuti na din tulungan na namin yung na identify na poor ng national government, ang mga Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries (We realized that we should help the poor already identified by the national government, which are the Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries).”
Through Pagsapulan, Vigan is able to help the poor Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries have access to income opportunities.
He also shared that they closely monitor the status of the livelihood projects providing constant entrepreneurial inputs to the beneficiaries.
Transformations
With the livelihood support and the cash grants ,the LGU hopes that the lives of the beneficiaries would be transformed.
The councilor also expressed his admiration for the Pantawid Pamilya saying, “Eto na ang pinakamagandang proyekto ni PNoy, dahil una talagang dapat gawin ay ang i-encourage ang mga magulang na pag-aralin ang kanilang mga anak. Meron lang kahit isang anak sa isang pamilya ang makapagtapos ay malaki na agad ang chance na umangat ang buhay nila (This is the best project of PNoy because it encourages parents to send their kids to school. A family’s chance to have a better life is greater even if only one child gets to graduate).”
Together towards development
The Pagsapulan project demonstrates the partnership of the national and local governments towards the goal of moving poor families into improved quality of life.
It does not even need a Memorandum of Agreement to operationalize such partnership. It only takes a common vision of a zero-poverty society to make it happen. ###
